I admit I wear my LucasArts admiration on my sleeve. The company developed some of the greatest games during its early years because its philosophy was simple: Create outrageously funny and imaginative adventure games. Sadly, the golden age of LucasArts ended when the company refocused on Star Wars titles, which became a choking point internally.

Suddenly, creative talent left LucasArts to strike out on their own. Tim Schafer opened Double Fine Productions, creating Psychonauts and Brutal Legends.

A few banded together to form Telltale Games, making adventures for LucasArts legacy characters like Sam & Max and Guybrush Threepwood. Respectfully, other alums created games such as Insecticide and A Vampyre Story, which continued the LucasArts philosophy.

As when a favorite indie band breaks up, you keep tabs on the members' individual projects. Here's a roundup of recent games by LucasArts alums, including the company that started it all:

DeathSpank: Created by Ron Gilbert, one of the creators of Monkey Island, DeathSpank is an action-RPG blending Diablo's hack and slash with the over-the-top humor reminiscent of Gilbert's first game, Maniac Mansion. The protagonist, DeathSpank, is a parody of self-absorbed, heroic do-gooders. He searches for a mystical artifact through mundane quests like demon-poop collecting or chopping up the local riffraff. The repetitive combat falls flat after a few hours, but DeathSpank enchants with its silly writing and imaginative visuals. (Xbox 360, PS3)

Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent: A former LucasArts animator and comic book creator of Grickle, Graham Annable lends his visual style to Puzzle Agent developed by Telltale Games. Nelson Tethers, a lone FBI agent in the Puzzle Research Division, investigates a factory that stopped producing erasers for the White House. He helps solve various puzzles to reveal clues to his investigation. Puzzle Agent is a quirky mix of challenging think puzzles, "Twin Peaks" weirdness and unique art direction. (PC, Wii, iPad/iPhone)

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge - Special Edition: Last year, LucasArts revised the 1990 Secret of Monkey Island to HD quality, signaling its interest in the genre again. Continuing the trend, its sequel gets a similar treatment with additional content. Thankfully LucasArts put more care into MI2's revision. The interface is streamlined for simpler and more logical mouse control. The visuals and animation are truer to the original spirit of the Monkey Island franchise, whereas Secret of Monkey Island's rerelease took some liberal interpretations. The best part of MI2 is the commentaries feature with the original creators, Gilbert, Schafer and Dave Grossman, giving some hilarious insight and criticisms on the game's development. (PC, Xbox 360, Ps3, iPad/iPhone)